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IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-S) 


1.0 


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1^  Bii    12.2 

£f  144   ™^ 
^    li£    12.0 


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23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Is 


vV 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  chang  : 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


n 

D 
D 
D 

n 
n 

n 


n 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 

Covers  damaged/ 
Couverture  endommagde 

Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaur^e  et/ou  pelliculde 

Cover  title  missing/ 

Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  gdographiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  init  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material/ 
Reli6  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liure  serr^e  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intdrieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  m.'iy 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajout^es 
lors  d'une  restauration  apr  araissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  dtait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  6t6  filmdes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppl6mentaires: 


L'lnstitut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  dt6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-dtre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  m^thode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiquds  ci-dessous. 


□   Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 

□    Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagdes 

□    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaurdes  et/ou  pellicul6es 

0    Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  ddcolor^es,  tachetdes  ou  piqudes 

0    Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ddtachdes 


D 


Pages  ddtachdes 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Quality  indgale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  materif 
Comprend  du  materiel  supplementaire 

Only  edition  jvailable/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 


r~~|  Showthrough/ 

I      I  Quality  of  print  varies/ 

I      I  Includes  supplementary  material/ 

I      I  Only  edition  jvailable/ 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6t6  film^es  d  nouveau  de  fa^on  d 
obtenir  la  meilleuri)  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmd  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu6  ci-dessous 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


26X 


30X 


y 

12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


l3X 


32X 


The  copy  fflmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

La  Bibliothdque  de  la  Viile  de  Montreal 


L'exemplaire  filmi  fut  reproduit  grAce  A  la 
gAnArositi  de: 

La  Bibiiothdque  de  la  Villa  de  Montreal 


The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Les  images  suivantes  ont  6t6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettet6  de  l'exemplaire  film6,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recoroed  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  —^(meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 


Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprim6e  sont  film6s  en  commen^ant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration.  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  sxsmplaires 
originaux  sont  film4s  en  commen^ant  par  la 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impressiL..  ju  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  — ►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE".  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc..  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc..  peuvent  dtre 
filmds  A  des  taux  de  reduction  diffirents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clichd.  il  est  filmd  A  partir 
de  Tangle  supdrieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite. 
et  de  haut  en  bas.  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


1 

2 

3 

t 

^     i 

3 

4 

6 

6 

^-     f 


f. 


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fymiSig 


REMARKS 


OF 


Gen.  Tames  H.  Wilson, 


IN 


JOINT  DEBATE  WITH 


ERASTUS    WIMAN,    ESQ. 


Before  the  Board  of  Trade  and  the  Citizen.s  of  Wilmington,  Delaware, 


^K- 


.J" 


ON 


'Our  Relations  with  the    1  dominion  of  Canada.    • 


December  13,  1889. 


WILMINGTON,  DEL.  : 

DELAWARE  PRINTING  COMPANY, 

1890.     . 


I    I 


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Mr. 
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I 


REMARKS 

OP 

Gen.    JAMES    H.    WILSON, 

IN    JOINT  DEBATE  WITH 

ERASTUS  WIMAN,  ESQ., 

Before  the  Board  of  Trade  and  the  Citizens  of  Wilmington,  Delav;are. 

ON 

OUR  REIvATlON  WITH  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA. 


The  question  to  be  discussed  this  evening  is  one  of  trans- 
cendent importance.  It  closely  affects  our  permanent  and 
paramount  interests.  It  is  not  for  to-day  but  for  all  time,  or 
at  least  till  it  is  settled  in  accordance  with  the  fundamental 
^laws  of  human  progress.  It  is,  in  the  words  of  Attorney 
General  Longley  one  of  the  greatest  questions  "  that  can 
agitate  the  minds  of  a  great  people,"  and  I  am  sure  you  will 
give  it  the  most  serious  consideration.  It  is  no  new  question, 
but  ever  since  the  first  colonies  were  planted  in  New 
England,  it    has    confronted  the  English    speaking   race. 

Mr.  Wiman,  who  is  also  to  address  you,  is  a  Canadian 
by  birth,  for  many  years  a  resident  of  New  York,  though  I 
believe  he  is  still  a  British  subject.  He  has  n^ven  most  care- 
ful attention  to  the  subject,  and  as  he  has  clearly  shown,  by  the 
pamphlet  which  he  has  sent  to  many  of  you,  he  is  thoroughly 


acquainted  with  the  resources  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada, 
with  the  character  of  its  population  and  with  the  operation 
of  its  system  of  Goverment.  His  statements  of  fact  are  entitled 
to  your  undoubting  credence  Indeed,  he  is  an  expert  on  all 
Canadian  matters,  and  1  am  sure  you  will  cordially  join  me 
in  returning  thanks  to  him,  not  only  for  the  information  he 
has  given  us,  but  for  the  candor  and  clearness  with  which  he 
states  his  views.  Whatever  your  conclusions  may  be  in 
regard  to  their  feasibility  and  soundness,  you  can  have  no 
doubt  as  to  the  earnestness  and  ability  with  which  he  puts 
them  forth. 

He  contends  that  the  best  possible  results  can  be 
obtained  for  both  Canada  and  the  United  States  by  the 
establishment  of  a  Customs  Union  or  Zollverein,  similar  to 
that  suggested  by  Prussia  in  1818  and  afterwards  joined  by  all 
the  German  States  except  Austria.  Obviously,  the  immediate 
results  of  this  measure  would  be  to  abolish  all  the  custom- 
houses on  the  frontier  and  to  remove  them  to  the  sea  coast,  or 
to  the  maritime  cities.  The  tariff  would  be,  necessarily  the 
same  for  both  countries,  the  revenue  theretrom  would  be 
pooled,  and  then  divided,  pro-rata  according  to  population, 
between  the  two  governments.  But  above  all,  and  this  is 
the  principal  end  aimed  at  by  the  proposition,  absolute  free 
trade  would  prevail  between  all  the  provinces  of  the 
Dominion  on  the  one  side,  and  all  the  States  of  the  Union  -. 
on  the  other,  just  as  it  prevails  at  present  between  all  the 
States  themselves,  while  a  common  protective  tariff  would 
be  maintained  and  enforced  against  all  the  World  besides, 
including  the  British  Empire  of  course.  It  is  also  worthy  of 
observation  that  Mr.  Wiman  in  submitting  this  proposition 
expresses  the  belief,  notwithstanding  the  prejudice  against  it 
•on  the  part  of  the  Canadian  Government,  that  the  Canadian 
people  can  be  brought  to  support  it.  It  does  not  become  me 
to  gainsay  this  opinion  for  it  may  possibly  be  true.  Cer- 
tainly from  my  point  of  view,  it  would  be  greatly  to  the 
interest  of  the  Canadians  at  least,  and  they  would  be  untrue 


to  their  reputation  for  shrewdness,  if  they  did  not  so  consider 
it.  He  also  expresses  the  belief  that  Her  Majesty's  Gover- 
nient,  would  consent  to  the  arrangement,  but  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  the  chief  aim  of  that  Goverment  has  been  for 
the  last  two  hundred  years  to  maintain  the  commercial 
supremacy  of  England,  and  the  integrity  of  the  Empire, 
and  that  in  all  this  tijne  no  British  statesman  has  ever 
for  a  moment  l^een  false  to  that  policy,  it  may  well  be 
doiibted,  if  Her  Majesty's  Goverment  could  be  bought 
in  a  case  of  so  much  importance  as  this,  to  forego,  the 
exercise  of  its  constitutional  right  of  veto.  I  do  not  in- 
tend to  delay  my  argument  to  discuss  this  aspect  of  the  case 
for  after  all,  the  real  question  for  us  to  consider  is,  will 
commercial  union  solve  the  problem  before  us,  rather  than 
can  its  adoption  be  secured.  Our  object  should  be,  to  dis- 
cover what  is  the  best  policy  for  the  Dominion  of  Canada  and 
the  United  States,  and  having  agreed  as  to  that,  our  further 
object  should  be  to  devise  the  means  of  carrying  that  policy 
into  effect,  without  let  or  hindrance  from  any  other  power  in 
the  World. 

And  here  let  me  say,  that  while  I  admit  the  great 
interest  of  the  entire  British  Empire  in  this  question  of 
policy,  I  contend  in  the  words  used  by  Mr.  Everett,  while 
Secretary  of  State,  (in  considering  the  joint  proposition  sub- 
mitted by  the  Earl  of  Malmsbury  and  Mr.  Turgot,  that  our 
government  should  join  the  governments  of  England  and 
France,  in  guaranteeing  the  perpetual  sovereignity  of  Spain 
over  the  Island  of  Cuba,) that  we  have  an  interest  all  our 
own,  and  "greater  than  that  of  any  other  nation  in  that 
question."  I  contend  in  this  case  as  in  that,  that  it  is 
mainly  an  American  question,  and  hope  to  show  that  how- 
ever great  be  the  interest  of  Her  Majesty's  Government  in 
the  policy  and  possession  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  our 
own  interests  though  widely  different,  are  even  greater 
than  hers — greater  by  the  fact  that  we  are  neighbors,  whose 
possessions  adjoin,  and  whose  boundaries  are  coterminous 
with   each   other   for  over  four  thousand  miles,  while  the 


M 


Dominion  is  separated  from  England  and  the  rest  of  tTie 
British  Empire  on  either  hand,  by  the  width  of  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  Oceans — greater  by  the  fact  that  we  have  many 
interests  of  the  first  magnitude  and  inii)ortance  in  common, 
and  which  no  human  power  but  our  own  can  divide  or 
separate,  while  Canada  and  England  have  but  few,  and  they 
mostly  sentimental  interests,  to  bind  Jiem  together. 

I  will  not  say  that  Canada  and  the  ITnited  States  in  the 
words  of  Mr.  Canning — referring  lo  Mexico  and  the  Ignited 
States — *'are  too  neighborly  to  be  friends,"  but  I  do  say  that 
they  are  too  neighborly  not  to  be  better  friends. 

While  Mr  Wiman,  and  perhaps  many  others,  believe  in 
the  scheme  of  a  Commercial  or  Customs  Union,  and  in  its 
capacity  to  rciuove  friction,  promote  a  friendly  and  neigh- 
borly feeling,  and  to  add  greatly  to  the  security  and  perma- 
nence of  peace,  I  .shall  endeavor  to  show  that  they  are 
sincerely  mi.staken  that  such  a  union  is  impracticable  and 
visionary,  and  that  even  if  consummated  it  would  not  settle 
our  relations  on  a  fair  or  satisfactory  basis;  that  while  it 
might  remove  certain  commercial  questions  of  minor  import- 
ance from  the  field  of  contention,  it  would  certainly  leave 
other  and  much  graver  questions  entirely  unsettled,  and  as 
liable  as  they  are  now  to  embroil  us  in  war,  not  with  Canada 
alone,  but  with  the  whole  British  Empire  of  which  Canada 
forms  such  an  important  part. 

The  area  of  Canada  is  3,500,000  square  miles,  it  has 
300,000  square  miles  of  wheat  growing  lands,  130,000  square 
miles  of  coal  lands,  the  richest  iron  mines,  and  nearly  one- 
half  of  all  the  fresh  water  in  the  world.  We  learn  elsewhere 
that  it  has  2,300,000  square  miles  suitable  for  the  production 
of  grasses  and  coarser  grains,  including  500,000  square  miles 
suitable  for  growing  indian  corn.  The  value  of  the  land  is 
practically  without  limit.  Its  productiveness  is  remarkable, 
and  yet  after  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  years  of  British 
rule,  and  an  area  greater  than  our  own,  it  contains  a  popula- 
tion of  less  than  5,000,000  souls,  over  one-quarter  of  which 


are  of  French  descent.  Why  has  its  projjress  been  so  slow  ? 
vSurely  not  becanse  of  bad  government,  nor  an  inhospitable 
climate.  Surely  not  because  the  labor  of  the  husbandman  is 
not  amply  requited  by  nature.  We  must  look  further  for  an 
answer,  and  the  answer  is  found  in  tlie  fact,  that  the  door  of 
our  market  has  been  closed  by  our  protective  system  aj^ainst 
its  citizens,  while  that  of  its  Pairopean  market,  lies  beyond 
seas  three  thousand  miles  away  !  Its  younj^  men  emigrate  to 
the  States;  and  those  who  come  to  it  from  Europe  will  not 
abide  v/ithin  its  borders.  ICven  Mr  Wiman  has  left  the 
Dominion,  and  if  report  does  not  misrepresent  him,  has 
prospered  too,  in  a  way  that  fully  justifies  the  step  he  has 
taken.  He  has  come  to  a  region — "almost  a  world  itself" — 
given-  up  wholly  inside  to  free  trade — to  a  Customs  Union 
under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  greater  than  any 
ever  before  known  and  seeing  how  that  union  has  been  pro- 
tected, that  it  has  grown  and  flourished  as  no  other  ever 
grew,  and  how  it  must  continue  to  grow,  he  asks  that 
Canada  and  the  ?.djacent  Islands  shall  be  admitted  into  it, 
without  bearing  any  of  the  political  burdens  which  are 
imposed  upon  its  constituent  members,  and  merely  because 
he  thinks  it  would  benefit  the  commerce  of  Canada,  and  the 
United  States  to  the  same  extent.  It  is  a  trite  saying  that 
we  miss  a  great  many  good  things  in  this  world  by  not 
asking  for  them.  There  is  not  only  no  harm  in  asking,  for 
"unless  ye  ask  ye  shall  not  receive,"  but  in  this  case  I  am 
confident  it  would  not  be  wise  for  us  to  give.  We  are  under 
no  obligation  to  give,  and  equally,  it  i"  no  offence  if  we 
decline  to  give. 

The  information  given  by  Mr.  Wiman  throws  a  flood  of 
light  upon  the  question  under  consideration,  but  it  does  not 
go  far  enough  to  enable  us  to  arrive  at  a  just  understanding 
of  the  case,  or  at  a  proper  solution  of  the  great  questions  in- 
volved.    Let  me  endeavor  to  supply  the  deficiency. 

Those  who  are  familiar  with  the  history  of  North  America 


8 

will  recall  the  fact  that  even  before  the  settlenient  o 
Plymouth  and  Jamestown,  the  French  had  settled  Acedia 
and  Canada,  and  that  with  incredible  resolution  they  carried 
the  French  flajj^  throuj^h  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Oreat 
Lakes  to  the  Northwest,  the  Mississippi  and  the  (Uilf  of 
Mexico.  Those  who  have  read  Parkman's  thrilling  histories 
will  recall  the  Christian  work  and  darinj^  explorations  of 
Marquette,  Joliet  and  the  vSieur  de  la  Salle,  as  well  as  the 
heroi.sm  of  Champlain,  Frontenac,  and  Montcalm.  While 
the  Enj^lish  colonies  were  struggling  into  existence  between 
the  Atlantic  Seaboard,  and  the  Alleghauies,  a  French 
PvUipire  was  growing  up  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
and  of  the  Mississippi.  Border  disputes,  intrigues  and 
encroachments  in  times  of  peace,  alternating  with  numerous 
and  protracted  wars,  for  a  period  of  almost  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years,  retarded  the  occupation  and  influenced 
the  destinies  of  the  American  Continent.  The  great  dis- 
putants were  France  and  England — the  French  Canadians 
.stirred  up  the  savage  Indians  to  rapine  and  murder; 
die  English  Colonists  fought  with  the  fury  of  unrelenting 
hate.  France  based  her  claims  to  the  interior  of  the  continent 
upon  colonization  and  discovery,  England  on  the  rights  of 
her  colonies  to  own  indefinitely  westward.  Every  school 
boy  is  familiar  with  the  atrocities  of  the  French  and  Indian 
wars  ;  with  the  story  of  Sir  William  Phipps'  capture  of  Port 
Royal  in  Acadia,  with  Winthrop's  expedition  against  Quebec 
with  de  Rouville's  sack  and  massacre  of  Deerfield  and 
Haverhill,  with  General  Hill's  subjugation  of  Acadia,  and  its 
reappearance  in  history  as  Nova  Scotia,  with  the  capture  of 
Phillipsburg  and  the  island  of  Cape  Breton  by  the  sailors 
and  militia  of  Massachusetts  under  Colonel  Pepperell,  with 
its  restoration  to  the  French  by  England  to  the  great 
dissatisfaction  of  the  men  who  had  captured  it,  and  finally, 
with  the  fact  that  over  a  hundred  years  of  almost  constant 
war,  ended,  with  each  side  holding  only  its  own.  The 
decisive  struggle  for  the  possession  of  North  America  began 
in    1753.     Lousiana  had   now   grown    to  be  a  wealthy   self- 


sustaining  colony.  The  missionary  posts  which  connected 
it  with  Canada  had  been  converted  into  irtilitary  posts — 
whil'.  Knj^lish  tradinj^  companies  were  seekinj^  to  push  their 
operuticms  into  the  (treat  West. 

(ieorjre  VVashinjjfton  made  his  first  expedition  to  the 
Ohio,  in  1754,  to  spy  out  tlie  land  about  Port  du  Que.sne  ; 
Braddock's  expedition  and  defeat  followed  soon  after.  Nova 
Scotia  was  again  captured  in  1755.  The  Rattle  of  Crown 
Point  was  fouj.;^ht  the  .same  year  ;  Montcalm  appeared  upon 
the  scene  and  captured  Oswego,  in  1756.  lH)rt  William 
Henry  and  Fort  Edward  fell  into  his  hands  in  1757.  So  far 
the  advantages  were  all  with  the  French  and  consternation 
had  spread  througliout  the  land.  The  aged  Col.  Pepperell 
was  made  Lieut.  General  and  placed  at  the  head  of  20,000 
Ma.ssachu.setts  Militia.  The  situation  was  one  of  great  con- 
cern. 

A  meeting  of  delegates  from  all  the  colonies  was  held  at 
Albany,  and  a  plan  of  union  for  the  common  defense  was 
drawn  up  by  Franklin  and  unanimously  adopted — but  it  was 
rejected  by  the  Ministry  at  home  because  it  was  deemed  to 
be  more  dangerous  to  the  domination  of  Kngland  over  her 
own  colonies,  than  to  their  French  am"  Indian  antagonists, 
The  elder  Pitt  was  now  Prime  Ministci  and  with  the  grasp 
and  foresight  of  a  great  statesman  put  forth  every  effort 
to  rescue  the  imperilled  colonies.  Abercrombie  was  sent 
to  command  in  America.  His  forces,  mostly  colonists, 
amounted  to  50,000  men,  while  the  entire  French  population 
in  America  could  not  at  that  time  have  exceeded  75,000 
souls.  Louisburg  in  the  East,  and  Fort  du  Quesne  in  the 
West,  were  captured.  Oswego  in  the  centre,  was  retaken, 
but  in  spite  of  every  effort  to  dislodge  them,  the  French  still 
held  Lake  Champlain  and  Ticonderoga.  Another  and  a 
greater  effort  was  necessary,  and  at  this  juncture  Pitt  sent 
Wolfe  with  reinforcements  to  take  Quebec.  This  great 
and  dcisive  movement  was  made  at  the  suggestion  of 
Dr.  Franklin,  and  as  you  all  know  it  resulted  in  a  com- 
plete victory  for  the  English  and  Colonial  arm.s.  Both 
Montcalm  and  Wolfe  were  killed,  but  the  power  of  France 


lO 


mmm 


was  broken  forever  by  the  victory  on  the  Heights  of  Abra- 
ham. '  * 

This  signal  event  took  place  on  September  13,  1759,  but 
the  peace  of  Paris  was  not  made  till  1762 — at  which  time  it 
will  be  remembered  that  France  ceded  to  England  all  of 
her  possessions  east  of  the  Mississippi,  except  the  island  and 
City  of  New  Orleans,  while  frankly  confessing  that  she  could 
no  longer  defend  them.  She  ceded  New  Orleans  together 
with  the  vast  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi,  by  England's 
permission,  to  Spain,  as  a  buffer  to  the  colonial  dependencies 
of  the  next  greatest  European  power  in  America. 

For  the  first  time  since  tlie  colonies  were  planted  they 
had  secured  a  stable  peace,  because  for  the  first  time  both  the 
English  colonies  and  Canada,  their  implacable  enemy,  had 
been  brought  under  the  domination  of  the  British  Crown. 
Curious  as  it  may  appear,  however,  England  was  to  a  great 
extent  ignorant  of,  or  indifferent  to,  the  great  prize  she 
had  won,  and  more  thari  one  of  her  statesmen  were  in 
favor  of  restoring  Canada  to  the  hands  of  the  French, 
as  the  best  possible  means  of  keeping  tiie  colonies  from 
growing  too  fast.  But  for  William  Pitt  and  the  help 
of  Dr.  Franklin's  celebrated  pamphlet,  which  put  the 
case  in  its  true  light  before  the  Engli.sh  people,  Canada 
might  have  been  exchanged  for  the  insignificant  island 
of  Gaudaloupe.  In  that  pamphlet,  issued  one  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  years  ago,  the  proper  doctiine  was  plainly 
laid  down — not  alone  for  the  English  Government  but  for  all 
mankind.  It  was  confidently  asserted  that  the  security  of  a 
dominion  is  a  justifiable  and  prudent  ground  upon  which  to 
demand  territorial  cessions  from  the  enemy,  that  although 
Canada  might  have  but  little  value  for  the  French,  it  made 
no  difference  if  it  had  great  value  to  us — that  it  had  been 
used  as  a  base  of  operations  for  both  French  and  Indian 
operations  against  us,  and  that  its  possession  by  the  English 
Crown  would  afford  the  best  possible  security  to  us.  He  jus- 
tified his  advice,  by  appealing  to  the  almost  unbi-oken  usage 
of  nations  ''in  this  situation."       He  contended  "that  the 


II 


security  and  quiet  of  provinces  and  states  have  always  been 
deemed  sufficient  reasons,  when  supported  by  power  for 
disposing  of  rights,  and  that  sucli  disposition  had  never 
been  looked  upon  as  indicating  a  want  of  moderation." 
Finally,  he  asserted,  ''If  the  French  remain  in  Canada  ai  i 
Louisiana  you  may  fix  the  boundaries  as  you  will,  you  will 
always  be  neighbors  and  can  never  have  peace  !  "  The  pos- 
session of  Canada,  he  urged,  "implies  every  security  and  it 
ought  to  be  had  while  in  our  power,"  and  on  this  irrefraga- 
ble argument  it  was  held  and  has  been  held  ever  since  by 
Great  Britain. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  when  the  Revolution  broke 
out  a  few  years  later  Dr.  Franklin  was  sent  to  induce  the 
Canadians  to  join  us,  but  in  spite  of  his  best  efforts  he  failed, 
though  he  always  claimed  that  his  failure  was  due  to  the  ig- 
norance of  the  Canadian  people,  rather  than  to  any  feeling 
of  loyalty  to  the  English  Governinen!.  In  alluding  to 
the  matter  afterwards  he  laughingly  declared,  that  'the  nejit 
mission  to  Canada  should  be  one  of  schoolmasters,"  though 
it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  Canadians  were  Catholic 
French  and  had  always  regarded  the  Protestant  Yankees  as 
their  hereditary  enemies.  It  is  an  interesting  circumstance 
that  Dr.  Franklin  was  one  of  the  commissioners  of  the  United 
States  to  negotiate  the  Treaty  of  Peace  and  partition  with 
England,  and  that  when  Mr.  Oswald,  the  gentleman  who 
first  acted  as  the  agCiit  of  the  Earl  of  Shelbourne  and  the 
English  (Tovernment  spoke  of  "reconciliation,"  the  wise 
?.nd  watchful  Doctor  adroitly  suggested  the  cession  of  Canada 
to  us,  as  the  best  and  most  acceptable  reparation  England 
could  make,  and  at  the  same  time  as  the  best  prevention 
of  future  wars.  It  would  lead  me  too  far  from  the  subject 
of  discussion,  to  follow  the  course  of  the  negotiations  and  to 
explain  how  England  cheated  New  England  out  of  a  large 
part  of  Canada  in  1763,  or  how  France  hoping  that  chance 
would  enable  her  some  day  to  recover  it,  and  Spain  fearing 
that  if  the  United   States  got  it  they  would  also  soon  get 


12 

Touisiana  and  her  other  American  Colonies,  United  in  play- 
ing into  England's  hand  and  thus  kept  Canada  out  of  our 
possession  in  1783.* 

I  cannot  forbear  remarking  however,  that  the  principles  so 
clearly  laid  down  by  Dr.  Franklin  in  justification  of  the 
transfer  of  Canada  to  the  English,  have  never  been  lost  sight 
of.  And  it  is  certain  that  the  British  cabinet  hoped  by 
retaining  it  in  their  control  that  the  now  independent,  but 
scarcely  united  States  might  be  induced  to  gravitate  toward  it 
and  resume  their  alligiance  to  the  mother  country,  and  that 
in  the  event  of  future  war  it  would  serve  as  a  sate  base 
of  operations  against  us,  as  it  did  to  our  alraoFt  infinite  cost 
and  humiliation,  in  the  war  of  181 2. 

From  the  foregoing  statement  it  will  be  seen  that 
England's  title  to  Canada  is  based  solely  upon  the  right 
of  conquest,  obtained  by — 

"The  good  old  rule     *     *     the  simple  plan, 
That  they  should  take  who  have  the  power, 
And  they  should  keep  who  can." 


It  Is  also  evident  that  the  Colonists  assisted  right 
valiantly  in  applying  that  rule ;  they  did  a  large  share 
of  the  fighting,  and  bore  more  than  their  share  of  the  suf- 
fering and  expense,  but  to  this  day,  their  just  share  of  the 
great  conquest  has  been  withheld  from  them.  In  making 
this  assertion,  I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  fact,  that  the  Treaty 
of  Peace  acknowledged  our  right  to  participate  in  the 
fisheries,  which  went  with  Canada,  Nova  Scotia  and  New- 
foundland, but  a  separate  question  has  grown  out  of  this 
right  and  I  shall  refer  to  it  further  on. 

My  point  now  is,  that  England,  although  taking  to  her- 
self, in   the   original   cession   all    that   New   England  ever- 

*  For  many  interestii  statemenls  connected  with  the  events  of  that  period, 
reference  is  made  to  thi  I^ife  of  Franklin,  to  Lecky's  Hisiory  of  England  in  the 
18th  Century,  and  to  co-temperaneous  French  memories  and  .Sta'e  papers. 


13 

claimed,  failed  to  give  us  the  share  of  Canada,  to  which  we 
we  felt  ourselves  entitled  by  joint  conquest,  and 
that  although  she  has  withheld  it  from  us  for  over  a  hun- 
dred years,  she  can  hardly  blame  us  for  claiming  it  when- 
ever it  becomes  essential  for  the  protection  of  our  para- 
mount national  interests. 

If  I  have  read  the  story  aright,  it  fixes  a  taint 
upon  the  character  of  England's  title,  which  might 
become  fatal,  if  we  should  find  our  pennanent  and 
paramount  interests  impelling  us  towards  the  acqiiisition 
of  her  American  dependencies.  Doctor  Franklin's  doctrine 
was  good  enough  for  England,  and  under  similar  circumstan- 
ces ought  to  be  good  enough  for  us.  Besides  the  law  of  our 
national  growth  seems  to  be  :  "Accretion  not  colonization  " — 
accretion  by  purchase,  as  in  the  case  of  Louisiana,  Florida, 
Arizona  and  Alaska  ;  by  treaty  and  mutual  agreement,  as  in 
the  case  of  Texas,  or  by  conquest,  as  in  the  case  of  Cali- 
fornia.* The  doctrine  of  manifest  destiny  has  thus  an- 
nounced itself  to  every  thoughtful  student  of  history.  It  has 
not  ceased  to  work  for  the  glory  of  the  American  name  and  can- 
not cease,  or  be  defeated  of  its  ends  till  the  American  flag 
floats  over  every  foot  of  the  North  American  continent.  It 
is  as  impossible  to  suspend  this  law  as  it  is  to  make  the  waters 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Lake  Ontario«flow  backwards  over 
the  Falls  of  Niagara  !  It  is  as  immutable  and  as  constant  as 
the  law  of  gravitation.  It  lies  at  the  very  base  of  Amer- 
ican progress,  and  although  donnant  at  times  it  is  never 
absent.  It  may  work  slowly,  as  men  measure  time,  but  it 
works  as  steadily  and  irresistibly  as  fate  itself.  Whether  it 
require  one  year  or  a  hundred,  or  even  a  thousand  to  com- 
plete its  task,  can  make  but  little  difference  in  the  end.  No 
policy  on  our  part,  or  on  the  part  of  the  Canadians,  or  even 
on  the  part  of  a  federated  British  Empire,  can  abrogate  or 
annul  this  law,  and  yet  the  question  of  policy  is  an  import- 
ant one  to  this  generation,  for  policy  may  hasten  or  delay  the 
fulfillment  of  our  destiny,  though  it  can  not  defeat  it. 

*vSee  Wharton's  Digest' for  a  more  extended  statement  of  this  law. 


fil 


14 

My  friend    Mr.    Winiaii  urges    the  Americau    people  on 
both  sides  of  the  dividing  line,  to  adopt  the  plan  of  a  Customs 
or  Commercial  Union,  because  he  believes  that  that  plan  will 
facilitate  and   increase    trade  between  them,  and    that  unre- 
stricted   trade  will  ultimately    lead    to  a  political    union.      I 
oppose    that   plan   because   it  is  opposed    to  the  law  of  our 
national  development,  and   to  the  "American  system"  ;  be- 
cause I  cannot  regard  commerce  as  a  solidarity — because  we 
have  not  the  same  interest  in  Canada  and  the  Canadians  that 
we  have  in  America  and    the  Americans.     I  am  willing   to 
admit  that  unrestricted  free  trade   with  us"  would    be  a  good 
thing  for  the  Canadians,  and    that  it  might  be  beneficial  to 
us  in  a  commercial  sense,  but  I  believe  also  inlthe  old  doc- 
trine that  charity  should  begin  at  home — and  that  we  should 
first   con.sider,  how   a    Custom's  Union    would  affect  us    in 
another  and  a  higher  sense  ;  how  it  would  operate  upon  our 
great  political  and  permanent  interests.     In  considering  this 
plan  we  should  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  we  had  (partial) 
free  trade  under  the  reciprocity  treaty  from  1853  to  1865 — we 
should    not  forget   that  the  trade  between  the  two  countries 
increased    rapidly,   till  it    became    greater    than  [^  the    trade 
between  Canada  and   England.      Neither  should^  we   forget 
that   although    the  arrangement  was   altogether    one  sided 
and  favorable  to  the  Canadians,  it  utteily   failed  to  draw    us 
■  closer   together.     Tlie  Canadians   got  all  the    profit    from  it 
they  could  ;    they  fattened  upon  it  and   grew   arrogant  and 
truculent.     But  instead    of    growinj^   more    friendly    to   us, 
immediately   after  the  outbreak   of  the  great  rebellion,  they 
took  the  side  of  the  South,  and  from  that  day  forth  they  and 
the  majority  of  their  kinsmen  beyond  sea,  became  the  stead- 
fast  friends  of  the  Confederates,  and  did  all  they  dared  do 
to  promote  their  success.     They  seized  upon  the  Trent  affair 
in  1861,  to  organize  a  volunteer  army  of  nearly  fifty  thousand 
men,  and  backed  by  the  Jingo  element  in  England,  began 
an  agitation  in  favor  c^  the  federation  of  the  British  Colonies 
in  North  America,  as  a  step  in  the  federation  of  the  British 


15 

Empire.  It  is  true  that  this  measure  was  not  consummated 
till  after  the  close  of  the  rebellion,  and  the  accession  of  the 
Jingo  ministry  under  Disraeli,  but  it  is  notorious  that  it  was 
conceived  and  carried  throuj^h  in  a  spirit  of  hostility  to  us. 
Conscious  of  the  injury  they  had  done  us,  and  would  have 
done  us,  during  our  struggle  for  national  existence,  they  and 
their  British  suzerain'^  adopted  the  measure  at  last,  as  the 
most  efficient  means  of  defending  themselves  from  the  wrath 
of  the  neighbor  they  had  so  outrageoush  wronged.  Hut 
their  guilty  consciences  exaggerated  the  danger.  Exulting 
in  the  reestablishment  of  the  Union  and  rejoicing  in  the 
return  of  blessed  peace  we  hastened  to  our  homes  forgiving 
all  mankind.  It  is  true,  that  we  warned  the  French  allies 
of  Maximilian  from  Mexico  while  we  were  disbanding  our 
armies  and  beating  oui  swords  intc  pruning  hooks,  but  neither 
statesmen  nor  generals  gave  adequate  consideration  to  a  set- 
tlement with  England  Both  Senator  Sumner  and  (General 
Grant  had  a  correct  Jdea  of  what  should  be  done,  but,  in  the 
political  confusion  which  followed  the  assassination  of 
Lincoln  and  the  accession  of  Johnsoi  to  the  Presidency  the^ 
failed  to  give  proper  expression  to  it  and  so  our  great  oppor- 
tunity slipped  by  unimproved  if  not  entirely  unheedeed. 
I  cannot  withhold  the  reflection,  that  if  we  had,  immediately 
after  the  close  of  the  great  rebellion,  turned  our  victorious 
columns  northward,  calling  the  gallant  confederates  to  our 
assistance,  we  should  have  taken  Canada  in  sixty  days,  and 
forever  banished  the  British  flag  from  the  North  American 
Continent.  That  would  have  been  a  settlement  of  the 
Alabama  claims  after  the  "high  Roman  fashion,"  and  History 
would  have  said  we  did  right.  We  could  have  set  in  the 
field  at  that  time  five  hundred  thousand  of  the  best  infantry 
and  fifty  thousand  of  the  best  cavalry  the  world  had  ever 
seen.  We  had  then  the  best  navy  in  existence,  and  such 
an  enterprise  would  have  received  the  approval  and  arrested 
the  admiration  of  mankind,  and  it  would  have  moved  the 
hand  of  time  forward    for  us  h\  a  centurv  at  least. 


i6 


lii 


But  returning  to  the  question  under  consideration, 
permit  me  to  add,  that  I  oppose  the  po'icy  of  Commercial 
Union,  because  it  is  inadequate,  as  well  as  unjust.  It  does 
not  cover  the  whole  ground  of  our  relations  with  the 
Dominion  of  Canada.  For  the  sake  of  argument,  I  may 
admit,  that  it  would  settle  our  comipercial  relations,  on  a 
satisfactory  and  even  an  advantageous  basis — but  there  are 
other  questions  than  questions  of  trade;  other  relations  than 
those  of  commerce,  and  I  know  I  shall  be  pa^'doned  for 
saying,  that  those  other  relations,  are  in  the  life  and  destiny 
of  a  great  people,  of  far  more  importance  than  matters  of 
mere  trade  and  barter.  There  are  other  questions  and 
interests  which  even  now  claim  our  thoughtful  attention, 
and  in  reference  to  which  we  must  adopt  a  broad,  compre- 
hensive, and  national  policy. 
I  refer  of  course — 

1.  To  the  fisheries  question. 

2.  To  the  Behring's  sea  question.    • 

3.  To  the  collection   of  impost  duties  at  the  frontier; 
and  to  the  faithful  execution  of  the  Exclusion  Act. 

4.  To  the  free  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  of 
the  canals  connected  with  it,  and  with  the  Great  Lakes. 

5.  To  the  regulation  of  the  Transit  Trade. 

6.  To  the  enforcement  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Act. 

7.  To  the  proper  protection  oi  our  own  transporting 
interests. 

8.  To  the  great  dut)-  of  looking  to  the  National 
defence. 

9.  And  finally,  to  the  unimpeded  operation  of  the  law 
of  our  national  growth  and  development. 

I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  fact,  that  it  is  proposed  by 
Mr.  Wiman  and  his  friends,  to  allow  us  equal  rights  in  the 
fisheries,  accompanied  by  the  transportation  of  our  catch 
through  Canada,  in  bond  free  of  duty,  as  a  concession  for 
the  free  trade  which  tJ  ey  would  secure  by  a  Commercial 
Union,  and  that  this  would  settle  the  fisheries  question  so 


17 


1v 


longf  as  the  Commercial  Union  existed.  But  we  should  scorn 
to  accept  such  a  settlement.  The  fisheries  regulations  of  the 
Dominion  are  at  best  a  relic  of  barbarism,  and  an  usurpa- 
tion of  sovereignty  over  the  waters  of  the  sea  which  should 
not  be  permitted  for  a  day.  Sea  fishing  s^iould  as  a  matter 
of  right,  be  open  to  all  mankind,  and  inasmuch  as  it  is 
commerce,  it  should  be  regulated  both  on  shore  and  at  sea 
in  accordance  with  the  humane  principles,  which  regulate  all 
other  commerce.  Resides,  the  fisheries  question  was  one 
which  arose  two  hundred  years  ago,  and  became  from  time 
to  time  an  actuating  cause  of  war  between  the  English  and 
French  colonists.  It  was  first  settled  by  the  joint  conquest 
of  Canada  and  its  dependencies  in  1761,  and  ren;ained  settled 
till  the  treaty  of  18 18.  As  before  stated,  we  contributed 
more  than  our  share  to  that  conquest — and  without  reference 
to  the  broader  and  more  humane  principles  tv  which  I  have 
just  alluded,  we  are  entitled  by  the  same  right  of  conquest 
to  every  privilege  the  Canadians  themselves  enjoy — and  no 
other  settlement  of  the  question  can  ever  be  permanent  or  satis- 
factory to  the  Aiiierican  fisherman,  or  consonant  with  the  feel- 
ings and  interests  of  the  country  at  large.  To  '  'settle' '  it  by  the 
establishment  of  a  Zollverein  or  Custom's  Union,  is  to  further 
complicate  it.  In  short,  the  proposed  measure  does  not 
"settle"  it  at  all,  l^ut  defers  the  real  issue,  to  the  vague  and 
indefinite  future. 

The  collection  of  duties  at  the  frontier,  would  no  longer 
be  necessary  if  the  Custom's  Union  were  established — but 
the  boundary  line  would  still  exist,  for  all  other  purposes, 
and  especially  for  the  exclusion  of  the  Chinese,  who  are  now 
admitted  into  Canada  by  the  payment  of  a  head  tax  of  fifty 
dollars,  and  as  soon  as  they  are  inside,  proceed  to  steal  across 
the  borders  into  the  States.  If  they  are  caught  and  taken 
back,  the  Canadian  officials  will  not  let  them  re-enter  their 
country  unless  they  pay  another  fifty  dollars.  It  may  be 
answered,  that  Canada  could  be  induced  under  the  Custom's 
Union  to  change  its  laws  on  this  subject  and  to  adopt  ours — 


i8 


and  that  we  could  depend  upon  Canadian  officials  to  enforce 
the  new  laws.  To  this  I  reply,  we  can  depend  upon  nobody, 
and  should  depend  upon  nobody  but  our  own  officials,  in  re- 
j^ard  to  matters  of  such  importance. 

The  uavijj^ation  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  its  canals,  and 
of  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  rivers  and  canals  connectinj^ 
them,  free  from  let  or  hindrance,  and  from  tolls  which  dis- 
criminate ajj^ainst  our  commerce,  is  a  matter  of  the  gravest 
importance.  Kngland  has  never  admitted  us  to  such 
priv'leges  as  a  matter  of  right.  She  contends  and  has  always 
contended,  that  a  »State  lying  on  both  sides  of  a  navigable 
river  next  to  the  sea,  has  a  right  in  accordance  with  the 
unbroken  practice  of  nations,  to  prohibit  States  lying  above 
them  from  using  the  river  at  all,  if  it  has  the  power  to 
enforce  its  prohibition.  In  pursuance  of  this  contention  .she 
has  permitted  us  to  use  the  St.  Lawrence  only  in  accordance 
with  treaty  stipulations,  and  while  those  stipulations,  have 
generally  been  fair  and  liberal — indeed  1  may  say — strictly 
reciprocal  iu  terms,  it  is  a  matter  of  notoriety  that  Canada 
has  continually  discriminated  against  commerce  intended  for 
American  cities  and  ports,  and  in  favor  of  that  intended  for 
Canadian  cities  and  ports.  And  to  make  the  matter  worse, 
Sir  John  A.  McDonald,  the  Canadian  Premier  contends  that 
there  is  no  injustice  in  such  di.scriniiuation. 

When  it  became  known  in  1802  that  Spain  had  retroceded 
Louisiana  to  France  and  thereby  given  to  the  latter  power,  the 
control  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and  the  ability  to  cancel  our 
right  of  deposit  at  New  Orleans,  Mr.  Jefferson  who  was  then 
President,  wrote  a  remarkable  letter  to  Chancellor  Livingston 
our  minister  to  France,  in  which  he  set  forth  in  clear  and 
unmistakable  terms,  that  the  transfer  of  that  vast  region  and 
its  great  river,  from  a  weak  power,  such  as  Spain  then  was, 
to  a  strong  one  such  as  F'rance  was  then  becoming,  if  persisted 
in,  must  be  regarded  by  us  as  an  event  which  would  "com- 
pletely reverse  all  the  political  relations  of  the  United  States, ' ' 
and  form  "a  new  epoch  in  our  political  affairs."     He  pointed 


II 


19 


out  that  it  threatened  our  right  of  deposit  at  New  Orleans,  and 
to  the  free  navigation  o(  the  Mississippi,  and  must  he  re- 
garded as  putting  France  in  an  attitude  of  defiance  towards 
us.      He  impressively  added: 

"The  day  that  I'Vance  takes  pojsession  of  New  Orleans  fixes  the 
sentence  which  is  to  retain  her  forever  within  hei  low- water  mark.  It 
seals  the  nnion  of  two  nations  who,  in  conjunction,  can  maintain  exclu- 
sive possession  of  the  ocean.  From  that  moment  we  must  marry  onr- 
selves  to  the  Hritish  fleet  and  nation  We  must  turn  all  our  attention 
to  a  maritime  force,  for  which  cur  reso'irces  place  us  on  very  high 
ground,  and  having  formed  a.  i  connected  together  a  power  which  may 
render  reinforcement  of  her  settlements  here  impossible  to  France, 
make  the  first  cannon  which  shall  be  fired  in  Ivurope  the  signal  for 
the  tearing  up  of  an^'  settlement  she  may  have  made,  and  for  holding 
the  two  continents  of  America  in  sequestration  for  the  common  pur- 
poses of  the  United  liritish  and  American  nations. 

This  is  not  a  state  cf  things  we  seek  or  desire.  It  is  one  which 
this  measure,  if  adopted  b\-  F' ranee,  forces  on  us  as  necessarily  as  any 
other  cause,  l\v  the  laws  of  nature,  brings  on  its  necessary  effect." 

The  .substance  of  this  letter  was  by  direction  of  the 
President  communicated  to  the  First  Consul,  and  produced 
a  profound  impression  upon  him.  No  one  who  reads  the 
very  able  and  exhaustive  "  History  of  the  United  States  of 
America  during  the  First  Administration  of  Thomas  Jeffer- 
ron,  by  Henry  Adams,"  (Vols.  I  and  H,)  can  doubt  that  it 
was  at  this  time  the  intention  of  Bonaparte,  acting  by  the 
•advice  of  Talleyrand,  to  take  possession  of  Louisiana  under 
the  treaty  of  retrocession,  and  make  it  the  basis  for  the  re- 
establi.shment  of  the  French  Colonial  system,  or  that  this  in- 
tention was  defeated  primarily,  by  the  revolution  of  Tous.saint 
Lonverture  and  his  sucses.sors,  and  secondarily  by  the  fright- 
ful disasters  which  overtook  Leclerc,  Rochambeau  and  the 
forty  thousand  soldiers  who  lost  their  lives  in  the  gallant  but 
futile  effort  to»  re-establish  the  authority  of  F^rance  in  San 
Domingo.  Thoroughly  discouraged  by  these  losses  and  the 
expense  they  entailed,  and  fearing  that  the  alliance  between 
America  and  England,  which  Mr.  Jeiferson  had  threatened, 


T 


I] 


20 

would,  if  entered  into,  put  an  effectual  end  to  his  preten- 
sions, not  only  in  America,  but  in  Europe,  Bonaparte  made 
haste  to  sell  us  both,  Louisiana  and  the  Mississippi,  and  thus 
remove  them  forever  from  the  realm  of  hostile  contention. 

The  doctrine  laid  down  by  Mr.  Jefferson  has  recenth- 
been  reannounced  by  Mr.  Edward  Dicey,  an  English  writer 
of  distinction,  in  a  paper  discussing  the  tendency  of  large 
and  powerful  nations  to  absorb  smaller  or  weaker  ones,  and 
justifying  such  absorptit)n  when  made  under  the  pressure  of 
'' permanent  and  paramount  interests."  History  teaches  us 
by  numberless  examples  that  an  appeal  to  this  rule  is  gener- 
ally followed  by  war,  which  since  the  world  began  has  been 
the  last  argument  of  Republics  as  well  as  of  Kings.  F^ortun- 
ately  we  were  not  required  to  act  under  it  in  tiie  case  of  the 
Missis.sippi  and  Louisiana  territory,  and  I  hope  we  shall  not 
be  required  to  apply  it  in  the  case  of  the  St  Lawrence  and 
the  Dominion  of  Canada  ! 

But  no  one — certainly  no  .\merican — denies  that  Mr. 
Jefferson  was  justified  in  announcing  it  to  the  First  Consul  in 
terms  which  could  not  be  misunderstood.  .^t  that  time  our 
entire  population  did  not  exceed  6,ooo,cxdo  souls.  We  had 
but  a  few  scattered  settlements  and  a  population  of  less 
than  500,000,  on  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries  and 
all  their  commerce,  indeed,  nearly  all  their  movable  pos- 
sessions could  have  been  carried  in  a  hundred  flat-boats, 
but  the  principles  and  arguments  were  clearly  applicable 
then  and  they  are  applicable  now,  that  our  population  has 
grown  to  more  than  60,000,000,  over  20,000,000  of  which  live 
in  States  and  Territories  bordering  on*  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
Great  Lakes,  and  send  their  commerce  to  market  ty  the 
numberless  vessels  which  navigate  them,  or  by  the  railroads 
which  traverse  the  country  bordering  upon  theiq.  It  is  said  that 
the  tonnage  passing  through  the  canals  of  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie, 
and  of  the  St.  Clair  flats,  now  exceeds  that  of  the  Suez  Canal, 
and  no  one  can  doubt  that  it  is  a  thousand-fold  greater  than 
the  tonnage  of  the  Mississippi  in   1803,   and  several  times. 


T 


ii 


31 

jjreater  than  that  of  the  Mississippi  at  the  present  time. 
To  permit  that  tonnage  to  be  discriminated  against  in 
any  manner  whatever  by  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  is  en- 
tirely inadmissible,  and  it  is  certain  that  no  administration 
conld  stand  a  day  againt  the  clamor  of  the  American  people 
should  that  discrimination  become  serious.  Hut  what  would 
be  the  outcry — what  would  be  the  result  if  Great  Britain 
should  for  any  reason  tmdertakc  to  stop  our  commerce  on 
the  St.  lyawrence  altogether?  It  is  useless  t»  say  there  is  no 
danger  of  this,  for  there  is  danger  so  long  as  war  is  possible, 
and  war  is  possible  so  long  as  Canada  remains  a  part  of  the 
British  Empire.  It  is  ju.st  as  possible  now  that  the  Canadians 
occupy  one  side  and  we  the  other,  as  it  was  one  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  years  ago  with  the  French  Colonists  on  one  side 
and  the  English  on  the  other.  The  greatest  difference  at  pre- 
,sent,  is  thai  the  boundary  line  is  over  35cxd  miles  long^,  not 
counting  that  between  Alaska  and  the  Northwest  territory, 
with  our  people  pressing  np  against  it  at  every  poiat  from 
Maine  to  Washington,  while  at  the  time  of  the  peace  of  Paris, 
it  was  less  than  looo  miles  long  and  lay  mostly  in  an  unin- 
habited wilderness.  No  Commercial  Union  can  adequately 
meet  the  difficulties  of  this  boundary  line,  nor  remove  the 
dangers  inseparable  from  arbitrary  ioreig^n  control  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  river  or  of  the  country  adjacent  to  it.  Such  a  union 
may  defer  or  minimize  those  difflcullies  and  dangers,  but  ulti- 
mately they  must  reappear  to  plague  us,  till  they  are  settled 
by  the  only  practicable  and  safe  method — the  annexation  of 
Canada. 

Since  the  introduction  of  railroads,  dinAparri-passu^  with 
their  extension  from  the  Atlantic  seaboard  into  the  Great 
West  and  across  the  continent,  a  new  factor  has  appeared 
in  our  problem  of  transportation.  As  a  matter  of  con- 
venience to  our  own  people,  and  of  profit  to  the  Canadians,  it 
has  gradually  come  to  be  a  custom  to  permit  the  transporta- 
tion of  goods,  wares  and  merchandise,  in  bond  and  duty  free 
from  points  in  the  United  States,  by  rail,  through  Canada,  to 


22 


Dthcr  j)()ints  in  the  UniU'd  States,  imcler  siieli  rejfulations 
as  the  ^overnieiits  of  Canada  and  tlie  United  vState  might 
prescribe.  It  has  also  come  to  he  the  cnstom  that  either 
conntry  may  export  or  import  goods,  wares  and  merchandise 
throngh  the  other  free  of  dnty,  and  these  jmictices  constitnte 
what  is  commonly  known  as  the  Transit  Trade.  This  trade 
was  at  first  carried  on  nnder  laws  enacted  i)y  the  Canadian 
Parliament  and  the  .\merican  Congress  and  later  under 
certain  provisions  of  the  treaty  of  Washington  entered  into  in 
1S71.  And  the  laws,  regulations  anil  practice,  were  intended 
to  be  reciprocal,  but  partly  from  the  nature  of  the  case, 
and  partly  by  the  superior  watchfulness  of  the  Cauadains, 
neither  the  laws,  regulations,  nor  practice  are  reciprocal.  The 
Canadians  have  a  great  advantage  in  all  this,  and  derive 
a  great  profit  fiom  it,  while  we  get  <mly  the  petty  advan- 
tage of  two  more  competing  railway  lines  "  acro.ss  lots,"  be- 
tween the  seaboard  and  thf  northwest. 

Commercial  l^nion  would,  of  course,  continue  and  extend 
this  trade,  but  in  doing  so  would  perj)etuate  a  grevious 
wrong  against  our  own  transporting  interests.  Kver  since 
the  establishment  of  our  (Tovernment  under  the  present  Con- 
stitution it  has  been  the  well  .settled  policy  of  our  legislation 
to  reserve  our  domestic  carrying  trade  for  the  profit  of  our 
own  people.  Almost  the  first  law  Congress  ever  passed  was 
the  Navigation  act,  which  in  terms,  provides  that  no  ship 
bearing  a  foreign  register  or  having  a  foreign  ownership  shall 
ever  engage  in  our  coasting  trade,  and  this  has  been  our 
unbroken  rule  on  the  sea  coast  from  that  day  to  this.  It  was 
also  our  rule  on  the  Great  Lakes,  till  the  treaty  of  Washing- 
ton, made  an  exception  in  favor  of  vessels  carrying  the  flag 
of  Her  Britannic  Majesty,  and  forming  transportation  routes, 
which  should  be  continued  by  rail  through  the  Dominion 
of  Canada.  An  interesting  story  has  been  told  of  how 
this  extraordinary  provision  was  smuggled  into  the  treaty  by 
the  free  use  of  champagne,  but  we  cannot  stop  here  to 
incjuire  into  the  truth  of  this  story.     Suffice  it  to  say,  that  our 


23 

Lake   carryiiij;-   tnult*    was   speedily   ruined   by   the    practice 
which  at  once  sprung  up  under  the   treaty,  auil   that    this 
caused  such  an  outcry  from  American  citizens  ownin^^  ships 
on  the  (ireat  lyakes,  that  President  Arthur  terminated  that 
part  of  the  treaty,  by  proclamation,  at  the  earliest  j)()ssible 
day  allowec;  l)y  its  terms.      Hut  under  another  article  of  the 
treaty,  and  by  the  Revised  vStatutesthe  trade  is  still  carried  on 
extensively  by  three  Canadian  railroads,  and  what  makes  the 
matter  worse,    is  the    fact,  that   two  of  these  railroads,   the 
(irand  Trunk  and  the  Canadian  Pacific,  were  built,  or  j^reatly 
aided,  by  subsidies  j^iven  to  them   in  pursuance  of  the  com- 
mercial  and    political    policy   of    the  (rovermnent  of  (ireat 
Britain.      And  it  is  worth  while  to  note  that  a  writer  in  the 
Westminster    Review    for    Februar\\    iS8S,    frankly   declares 
that  the  "Confederal  Union"  (between  the  Hritish  Colonies 
in    North  America)  "would  not   be  worth    the   paper  upon 
which  it  was  written  but  for  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railroad  !  " 
In  view  of  the  fact  that  our  own  railroads  have  been  still 
further  hampered  by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Law,  and  espe- 
cially by  that  provision  of  the  law  known  as  the  "lonjj^  and 
short  haul  clause,"  (the  nature  of  which  you  all  understand), 
while  the  Canadian  railroads  are  necessarily  left  entirely  free 
from  its  penalties  and  provisions,  it  would  seem  to  be  not  only 
fair  but  obligatory  that  we  should  repeal  all  laws  and  abrogate 
all  treaties  which  permit  such  spoliation  ard  injustice.     Hav- 
ing bound    the   hands  of  our   railroad  managers,    common 
justice,  if  not  a  decent  regard  for  the  fundamental  principles 
of  American  polity  should  induce  us,  not  only,  not  to  extend 
the  practice  by  establishing  a  Commercial  Union  with  Canada 
but  to  put  an  end  to  it  by    repealing  all   laws  and  regula- 
tions which  have  been  construed  to  allow  it.     We  should  in 
all  fairness  shut  the  Canadian  roads  out  of  the  transit  trade 
along  our  northern  borders  just  as  we  have  shut  all  foreign 
ships  out  of  our  maritime  coasting  trade.     We  can  do  this  all 
the  more  readily,  because  our  own  railroads  are  ample  for  the 
accommodation  of  our  traffic,  and  their  rates  are  regulated  by 


24 


competition  between  themselves,  by  the  water  routes  through 
the  great  lakes  and  the  canals,  and  finally  by  the  stringent 
provisions  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Law,  itself. 
'        In  discussing  other  points,   I  have  already  touched  upon 
the  great  duty  of  the  government  to  look  to  the  national 
defence.     Neither  Mr.  Winian  nor  any  other  friend  of  his 
measure,  has  set  up  the  pretence  that  a  Commercial  Union 
would  provide  adequately  foi  the  protection  of  our  northern 
frontier  in   case   of  war  with    England.     If  Canada   were 
an  independent  power  or  the  Millennium  had  come,  such 
a  union  might  do  much  to  render  war  improbable,  and  hence 
to  defer  the  work  and  expense  of  protecting  our  borders  from 
invasion,  but  the  Millennium  is  not  yet  at  hand  and  Canada  is 
not   an   independent   power.     She  cannot   even   enter   into 
a  Commercial  Union  without  the  express  permission  of  the 
suzerain  nation  which  controls   her.     She  would  not  dare 
understake  it  against  the  veto  of  Her  Britannic  Majesty's 
(Government!    Canada  alone,  or  even  Canada  aided  by  the 
entire  confederation  of  which  she  is  a  part,  can  give  us  but 
little  concern  for  our  safety  or  progress,  but  tlie  Dominion  of 
Canada,  as  an  integral  part  of  the  world -encircling  British 
Empire — the  richest,  the  most  aggressive  and  most  grasping 
empire  that  has  ever  existed,  is  altogether  a  different  and 
a  greater  thing.     War  with  the  latter  is  always  possible.     It 
may  break  out  any  day,  even  without  the  agency,  concurrence 
or  permission  of  any  British  dependency  and  it  behooves  us  to 
make  timely  preparation  against  that  danger  and  its  conse- 
quences.      When    it   is    remembered    that    in   every    great 
emergency  which  has  overtaken  us  since  the  peace  of  Paris 
was  signed  in  1763,  the  arbitrary  will,  the  crafty  diplomacy, 
the  bottomless  purse,   or  the  mailed  hand  of  Great  Britain 
has  made  itself  felt,  if  it  has  not  turned  the  scale  against 
us,  no  sensible  reflecting  man  can  contend  that  Commercial 
Union  could  properly  provide  for  the  safety  of  our  exposed 
and   defenceless   borders.     Its   most  striking   effect    would 
be  to  increase  the  wealth  and  population   and  strengthen  the 


ii 


, 


25 


it 


hands  of  the  country  which    would  necessarily  be  used  as  a 
base  of  operation  against  us. 

As  I  have  stated  before,  the  law  of  our  national  growth 
is  by  accretion,  not  colonization;  by  annexation,  under  the 
Constitution,  not  by  commercial  contract;  in  short,  it  is  by 
political  union  always,  and  never  by  customs  union!  Every 
page  of  our  history  has  this  law  plainly  written  in  it.  Even 
the  story  of  the  great  rebellion  inculcates  this  lesson.  It 
teaches  not  only  union  but  political  union,  uuder  the  Con- 
stitution and  the  law  of  the  land,  where  all  are  equal,  and 
where  absolute  free  trade  prev^ails,  but  it  also  teaches  that 
higher  law,  that  whatever  is  necessary  to  the  preservation  of 
the  national  life,  and  the  protection  of  its  permanent  and 
paramount  interests,  is  justifiable  and  will  in  the  fullness  of 
time  most  surely  come  to  pass. 

In  view  of  all  this,  and  much  more  that  might  be  said, 
it  seems  to  me  that  Commercial  Union  with  the  Dominion  of 
Canada  is  incompatible  with  our  paramount  national  interests 
and  with  the  law  of  our  national  growth,  and  cannot  therefore 
become  the  policy  of  the  American  people  or  any  considerable, 
number  of  them ;  that  such  a  policy  is  fanciful  and  inadequate 
and,  did  I  not  believe  in  the  honesty  of  those  who  have  brought 
it  forward  I  should  be  tempted  to  say  that  they  cannot  be  sin- 
cere in  advocating  it,  and  that  there  must  be  a  tremendous  job 
concealed  in  it  somewhere,  or  that  they  are  advocating  it  for  the 
purpose  of  delaying  rather  than  promoting  that  political 
Union,  essential  to  permanent  peace  and  to  the  realization  of 
our  manifest  destiny. 

I  cannot  admit  that  such  a  policy  is  favored  by  the  lead- 
ing politicians  of  the  Dominion  of 'Canada  much  less,  by  the 
Statesmen  of  England  and  indeed  we  know  from  nu- 
merous interviews  with  both,  published  by  the  New 
York  Sun  during  the  past  year,  it  is  certain  that  they 
are  not,  and  almost  as  certain  that  they  can  not  be  brought 
to  support  such  a  measure  so  long  as  England  continues  her 
commercial  and  imperial  policy.   I  feel  sure  that  it  is  not  for 


26 


the  best  interests  of  the  masses  of  Canadian  people,  because  its 
immediate  effect  would  be  to  defer  the  entry  of  the  Canadian 
provinces  into  the  American  Union.  I  believe  that  this  would 
be  the  result,  because  it  would  give  to  the  Canadians  free  trade 
with  us,  the  only  thing  that  all  classes  concur  in  saying  they 
want  from  us.  If  this  were  granted  it  is  obvious  that  so  long 
as  (jreat  Britiau  should  continue  to  build  their  forts,  sub- 
sidizes their  railroads,  canals  and  steamship  lines,  fight 
their  battles,  guarantee  their  public  debts,  flatter  their  pride, 
and  bestow  hereditary  titles  upon  their  great  men,  sprung 
mostly  from  the  humbler  walks  of  life,  so  long  would  they 
.strive  to  maintain  their  position  in  the  British  Empire. 

Aft  jr  careful  consideration,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  express 
the  opinion  that  our  true  policy  is  to  invite  all  the  British 
Provinces  in  North  America  to  come  into  our  glorious  union, 
as  states  and  territories,  on  the  assurance  that  our  government 
will  assume  the  public  debt  of  the  Dominion  and  of  the 
independent  provinces.  This  could  not  fail  to  give  them  ev- 
ery privilege  and  blessing  they  now  enjoy,  except  such  as  are 
connected  with  hereditary  titles,  and  it  would  give  them  in 
addition  the  inestimable  boon  of  absolute  self-government, 
accompanied  by  free  ...id  unrestricted  trade,  with  sixty 
millions  of  the  most  enlightened,  the  most  progressive,  and 
the  most  wealthy  people  in  the  world.  Their  waste  lands, 
are,  or  soon  will  be  required  by  us,  and  would  therefore  be 
speedily  taken  up  for  cultivation  ;  their  mines  of  precious 
metals,  coal  and  iron,  would  be  opened  and  worked,  their 
forests  would  be  utilized,  and  every  resource  would  be  de- 
veloped to  their  inhnite  enrichment,  and  to  the  promotion  of 
our  common  peace,  safety  and  glory. 

Should  they  fail  to  accept  this  generous  offer,  and  decide 
to  adhere  to  their  British  allegiance,  they  can  not  regard  it 
as  at  all  unkind  or  unneighborly  in  us,  if,  instead  of  con- 
senting to  a  Commercial  or  Customs  Union,  we  at  once  repeal 
the  laws  and  abrogate  the  treaty  under  which  the  Transit 
Tirade  is  conducted;  insist  upon  our  full  share  of  the  fisheries; 


27 


S 


our  equal  right  to  the  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the 
Great  Lakes  and  the  rivers  connecting  them,  without 
hindrance  or  discrimination;  the  rigid  enforcement  of  our 
customs  laws  over  ever\-  foot  of  the  international  boundarv 
line;  the  execution  of  our  Chinese  Exclusion  Act  without 
•evasion;  a  due  respect  to  our  riglu  of  national  defence;  and 
finally  upon  the  unimpeded  operation  of  the  law  of  our 
national  growth,  with  all  that  the  law  in  its  fullest  sense  can 
be  con.strued  to  mean.  The  American  people  did  not  make 
the  boundary  line,  and  cannot  be  blamed  if  they  look  upon 
it  as  separating  them  from  a  foreign  and  frequently  a  hostile 
nation.  It  became  a  necessity  by  the  will  of  Great  Britian. 
The  North  American  Continent  is  a  unit,  and  it  became 
peopled  almost  exclusively  by  the  Anglo  Saxon  race,  through 
the  operation  of  natural  laws.  No  earthly  arrangement  can 
defeat  the  destiny,  intended  for  either,  but  it  becomes  us  as 
good  citizens  to  strive  to  discover  what  that  destiny  is  to  be, 
and  to  do  our  part  manfully  to  hasten  its  consummation. 

Permit  me  to  say  in  conclusion,  that  I  think  I  see  clearly 
the  road  on  which  we  are  compelled,  perhaps  all  uncon- 
sciously, to  travel.  It  lies  fair  and  broad  before  us,  and  leads 
straight  forward  without  crook  or  turn  to  a  continental 
republic,  extending  from  the  tropics  to  the  north  polar  sea, 
and  bounded  on  all  sides  by  the  ocean  which  encircles  the 
world.  The  people  within  it,  as  well  as  the  separate  States 
which  govern  their  local  affairs  are  free  and  equal,  and  sub- 
ject only  to  that  written  Constitution,  which  the  wisest  of 
English  Statesman  has  pronounced  to  be  the  grandest 
instrument  of  Government  ever  framed  at  a  single  epoch  by 
a  single  set  of  men  ! 


